Europeana is an entryway for European culture in digital format. Launched in November 2008 Europeana now includes 110 cooperating institutions (museums; libraries, archives; cinema, sound, and image repositories; and research institutions) from more than 30 countries.

Formats include images, texts, sound, and video. Do you want to know what a sovereign coin minted in Henry VIII’s time looked like? Curious about what a nightingale’s song really sounds like after reading Keats’ ode?  Want to see film clips of French film noir? Search in Europeana. Some of the current hightlights include wedding pictures from Eastern Europe; an online exhibition of musical instruments; Yiddish theatre in London; and pictures, memorabilia, and letters from WWI.

You could find these items at the originating institution’s website, but the ability to discover materials from many areas of Europe in one place is a great convenience and enchances cross-cultural studies.

Results may be refined by country, language, date, format and other factors. Not all images are loaded on the Europeana website yet but they provide the option to “view in original content.”

For an overview, check out their video of the Europeana project for a tour of some of the amazing artifacts, records, and materials you can access digitally.